Climbing structure for children



' April 7, 1959 o. R. CHAMBERLAIN 2,881,002 CLIMBING S'ljRUCTURE FOR CHILDREN Filed March 51, 1955 INVENITOR. 0110 R. Cfimzerlam @awf United States 2,881,002 CLIMBING STRUCTURE FOR CHILDREN Qrlo R. Chamberlain, Rye, N .Y. ApplicationMarch 31, 1953, Serial No. 345,930

4 Claims. (Cl. 272--62) This invention relates to climbing structures for play areas, especially for play rooms in kindergartens and schools or wherever small children congregate. ,More particularly, the invention contemplates an open frame having horizontal bars on which children can climb and hold on safely while at play, which frame is supported in such manner as to permit a safe amount of movement, as a rocking or swaying motion, in response to swaying movements of children playing in or on the structure.

Broadly considered, the invention may be defined as a climbing structure or play-gym for self-entertainment of children, comprising a frame having a series of hori zontal bars at several different levels connected to upright supporting members, said frame being supported by a stationary base member for the most part below or beneath said frame and connected thereto by a non-rigid link or other supporting member.

The invention can be readily understood from a consideration of the drawing illustrating the preferred embodiment of the invention.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the whole device and Figure 2 is a detail of one of the corners enlarged to show the nature of the connecting S-link.

With reference to the drawing there is shown a boxlike or cubical structure composed of horizontal bars 11 on two opposite sides, attached to the eight corners by one inch, three-opening, metal railing elbows 12. The bars are made of one inch hard wood rungs. To secure the bars or rungs into the elbows, one inch metal nipples 13 (three inches long) are screwed into each of the three vopenings of the elbows and the rungs are forced securely .into the nipples and anchored there by a pin or screw (not shown) if desired. Alternatively, the inside of the :nipples may be threaded to provide more permanent grip of the rungs in the elbows.

A third side of the frame is provided with vertical bars and the fourth side is open. The rungs and bars 11 at intermediate levels are doubled and proximate, and are mounted in spaced relationship by attachment to the upright bars 14 on the opposite sides thereof by means of suitable bolts 15. On top of the frame there are a series of bars 16 close enough together to provide a seat for children to sit on but far enuogh apart to permit the childrens fingers to extend between and grasp the same.

The bottom bars of the frame support a floor 17 which is suitably attached by means of a dual arrangement of the bars 18 above and below the lowest horizontal rungs of the frame held together by the bolts 19. The planks 21 of the flooring are held between these bars.

The frame is supported by means of a base suitably constructed of iron composed of two metal bars 22 crossed at their center and preferably welded together (not shown), the extremities of which extend beyond the corners of the frame and curve upwardly above the bottom level of the frame inwardly and downwardly to form arms or elbows 23 ending in a hook or eye 24, there by providing upright supporting members opposite the 2,881,002 Patented Apr. 7, 9

respective corners of the frame. The corner supports 12 are also provided with books or eyes 25 and the frame is supported by S-links 26 which connect the eyes of the arms'to the eyes of the corner supports. The base member, therefore, is in the form of a cradle and the frame can rock and sway therebetween. The movement of the frame within the cradle is approximately two inches at the bottom and four inches at the top. The features and advantages of .this preferred embodiment are as follows:

(1) A single link supporting means permits horizontal movement at the floor level and a slight tilting at the top as well but provides a positive and not too abrupt check on the movement. This arrangement does not cause fear of tilting over or cause excessivejolting of a, magnitude which might cause the children to lose their grip on the bars. v

(2 The supporting means is outside of the play area of the structure and likelihood of injury to children by the mechanism is lessened, and the structure is more stable and possibility of its tilting over is lessened.

(3) The climbing structure has a floor where timid children or children new to the device can get a firm footing and get used to the shaking movement before venturing to the bars or climbing to higher levels.

(4) Some or all of the horizontal bars except the top are double thereby (A) giving more firm support to the childrens feet when standing or climbing on the bars, and (B) adding a safety factor in case one of the bars breaks after long use or hard abuse.

(5) By providing wooden horizontal bars instead of iron or other metal, several advantages are had. (A) The likelihood of the children losing their grip due to slipperiness is lessened. (B) The bars feel warm instead of cold. (C) The possibility of injury to the teeth of the children is lessened when they are standing on the lower bars during rocking of the frame.

(6) The provision of horizontal bars on only opposite sides (or avoidance of such bars on adjacent sides) prevents children at upper levels from walking horizontally around the corners where, during rocking, injury to the head or teeth on the vertical posts could otherwise occur.

(7) The double vertical bars on the one side as well as the double horizontal bars will permit the insertion of short lengths of planks such that the structure can be partially closed and a rocking playhouse be built.

(8) The series of horizontal bars on the top provide a place for the children to sit and hold on to the seats.

(9) Fabrication of the structure is quite simple and economical for the parts are either readily available as present articles of commerce or they can be made in any shop.

(10) The frame is in close proximity to the floor on which the device rests and hence the frame may be easily boarded by children from the floor level without climbing on any part of the base.

The structure hereinbefore described may be modified to provide embodiments involving some, but not all of the foregoing advantages.

Although the link means described provides a rocking motion as well as lateral movement at the bottom, other means for connecting the frame with the base can be employed to provide somewhat similar motions which may not be as appealing as the motion of the device already described.

It should be understood that the present invention is not limited to the description set forth herein, but that it may extend to any equivalents which will occur to one skilled in the art upon consideration of the scope of the claims appended hereto.

I claim:

1. A play-gymnastic device for play areas comprising a climbing structure including a rigid frame of at least three sides having a series of horizontal bars at several levels connected to upright supporting members, a stationary base member for the most part below said frame and connected thereto through a supporting means constituting a non-rigid connection permitting horizontal movement of the bottom of said frame as well as the top thereof in relation to said base when the structure is inuse, said horizontal bars on the side of the frame being double and in close proximity on the same level but spacedapart for easy gripping of a single bar.

2. A play-gymnastic device for play areas comprising a climbing structure including a rigid frame of at least three sides having a series of horizontal .bars at several levels connected to upright, supporting r'nmbers,,a stationary base member for the most pa'rtbelowsaid frame and connected thereto through a supporting means constituting a non-rigid connection permitting horizontalmovement of thebottom of said frame as well was the .top thereof in relation to said base when the structure is in use, said frame being box-like and having horizontal bars at intermediate levels between a top bar and a bottom bar at the upper and lower extremities of said frame, on only two opposite sides.

3. The climbing structure of claim 2 wherein the frame has double vertical, spaced apart, bars on one side adapted to hold planks therebetween, whereby a solid wall may be constructed on said side.

4. The climbing structure of claim 2 wherein the frame has a series of closely spaced .bars across a portion of the top of the frame in close proximity as will serve as a seat'for users of the structure.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 204,944 Bernhard June 18, 1878 430,616 Brewer June 24, 1890 515,461, Bowen Feb. 27, 1894 824,133 Morse June 26, 1906 1,757,825 Albach May 6, 1930 2,222,119 Overholt Nov. 19, 1940 2,480,691 Anderson Aug. 30, 1949 2,616,485 Robbins Nov. 4, 1952 

